Describe boredom: a seven-letter word, a noun, a dull person or thing.

Now take an up and coming five-piece band with a pretty lead singer and you have a recipe for... extraordinary talent.

All the Trendy Kids are a local band preparing for a show on February 24 at the Black Shire Pub. Joining them is fellow Londoner Richard Gracious and Toronto-based band Stuck Out Here.

All the Trendy Kids, formerly called The Stiff Wires, are Jesse Reyes on drums; Bryce Cody and Brandyn Walkom on guitar; Danny Kidd on bass; and singer April Romano. They merge a sound that showcases influences of Rancid, The Clash and Boxcar Racer; with a female lead, there is an obvious discrepancy - but a good one, at that.

They also pay their respects to Washington D.C. punk-rockers, Fugazi, the original straight edge, political activist punk rockers who condemned mosh pits and overpriced shows. Which is why, Kidd said, "When you come to the show, just pay what you can."

Creating a band, producing songs and finding a fan base doesn't come easy, and it's not without a fight to stay true to yourselves and keep doing what fuels your passion. But these five have managed to find humour and entertainment with what they do, and their music videos prove it. Punk rock can be over-produced, too cleancut and lacking the raw, do-ityourself attitude. But what their videos demonstrate is a fun, chaotic and fierce attitude that Ian MacKaye or Joe Strummer — or Gwen Stefani or Debbie Harry, for that matter — would applaud.

Kidd said the growth of maturity from teenager to young adult is embraced in their songwriting: drinking, drug use and relationship quandaries that mask innocence and self-discovery.

All The Trendy Kids admitted that one song, Over and Over Again, was the most difficult to put together. Regardless, it's their favourite, and as Kidd said, "There no two parts the same (in that song). It has a lot of layers."

They've also put other videos on YouTube, including their January 2009 performance of So Hard to Say Hello at Coffee Culture on Richmond Row. You can also check out their songs 11th, This is Boredom and the provocative Pineoctopussy by searching "All the Trendy Kids" on YouTube.

When you go, pay what you can, buy a CD for $10, and rock out. And boredom? Not on this night. This band doesn't give it and as Fugazi sing in their epic song Waiting Room:
I don't sit idly by,
I'm planning a big surprise,
I'm gonna fight, for what I want to be,
I won't make the same mistakes,
Because I know how much time that wastes,
Function is the key

The show starts at 9 p.m. on February 24 at the Black Shire Pub. More information can be found at allthetrendykids.com or myspace.com/allthetrendykids.com.